{"id":602299,"date":"2026-04-12T15:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T15:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/602299\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T15:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T15:32:10","slug":"zak-butters-reported-for-abusive-language-to-umpire-port-adelaide-vs-st-kilda-gather-round-says-he-will-fight-any-charges-post-game-interview-josh-carr-what-did-he-say-video-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/602299\/","title":{"rendered":"Zak Butters reported for abusive language to umpire, Port Adelaide vs St Kilda Gather Round, says he will fight any charges, post-game interview, Josh Carr, what did he say, video, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Port Adelaide superstar Zak Butters has declared he will \u201cfight to the hills\u201d any charge brought against him for abusive language, after being reported in his side\u2019s 14-point loss to St Kilda on Sunday night.<\/a><\/p>\n

After a slow first half, the Power came out looking a different outfit in the third quarter and looked within touching distance of breaking a scoring deadlock. <\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Against the grain, Saints forward Mitchito Owens was awarded a contentious free kick from a ruck contest just inside forward 50 against Jordan Sweet. As the 22-year-old lined up for his set shot, Butters seemed to query on why a free kick was given.<\/p>\n

Umpire Nick Foot didn\u2019t hesitate in paying a 50-metre penalty against Butters for his words, stunning both he and nearby teammate Ollie Wines as Owens strolled into an open goal to push the margin out to 31 points.<\/p>\n

As Butters and Wines jogged back to the middle for the next centre bounce, Foot ran past Butters and informed him he was on report.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Seven\u2019s Xander McGuire immediately after the siren, the out-of-contract midfielder was unwavering in his defence of the incident. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to know the language that I said, because I went up to him after the game and obviously just to have a chat \u2014 like any two humans do,\u201d Butters said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said he didn\u2019t want to speak to me. All I said was: \u2018How was that a free kick?\u2019 He gave it 50, and said I\u2019m on report.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a few teammates right next to me, Ollie Wines. I\u2019m curious to follow that one up, because I\u2019m never going to say anything bad to the umpire. I just want to follow up and ask what he thought I said from his end.<\/p>\n

When queried by McGuire on whether any expletives were used, Butters responded: \u201cGenuinely no swear words (or) any bad language. That\u2019s why I was curious and obviously a bit frustrated, because it led to a goal. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m a pretty honest bloke out there and have a good relationship with most umpires. I\u2019m sure the club will deal with that. <\/p>\n

“SA tourism are gonna sign you up” | 00:51<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d fight it (any charge) to the hills, because I know what I said, and I know I didn\u2019t say anything bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

The free kick came at a costly time for the hosts, who went on to kick four of the next five goals to get back within nine points before ultimately falling short.<\/p>\n

First-year Port Adelaide coach Josh Carr found himself somewhat frustrated by inconsistencies in the umpiring throughout the night. In the first quarter, especially, Fox Footy commentators debated several instances where St Kilda players potentially initiated contact with their heads before being awarded a free kick.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t handle the frees that well. Was that them getting their head over the footy? I don\u2019t know if it was consistent on both sides of the footy with the frees… but that\u2019s definitely not what hurt us,\u201d Carr told journalists post-game. <\/p>\n

When quizzed on Butters\u2019 report, he responded: \u201cI don\u2019t know the details to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox Footy reporter David Zita detailed what the standard procedure for an alleged offence of this kind will entail in the next 48 to 72 hours post-game.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see him getting told by the umpire he is on report. He seemed quite shocked by it, and the teammates around him seemed quite shocked by it as well,\u201d Zita said post-match.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis normally ends up in the fixed financial offences category. Michael Christian, the MRO (Match Review Officer), you would suspect would get a report lodged from the umpire as to what was said. Then, he makes a determination from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Port Adelaide have a six-day break before their Round 6 clash with Hawthorn on Saturday afternoon at Marvel Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Port Adelaide superstar Zak Butters has declared he will \u201cfight to the hills\u201d any charge brought against him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-602299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}